


Mixed Roles

by LyraMaeRose



Category: One Piece
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-09 05:34:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6892195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyraMaeRose/pseuds/LyraMaeRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"...Don't get the roles mixed up, Luffy." Nami said, her soft eyes giving away the irritation in her tone. "Navigating is my job. Being the captain is yours."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mixed Roles

Nami opened the galley door and breathed in the fresh air. The sun was shining and the waves were calm. The weather in the New World was unpredictable, so serene moments like this were rare. That's why Nami likes to make the most of it while it lasts.

The navigator put on her sunglasses and made way to her usual sunbathing spot. When she walked down the stairs that leads to the grass deck, though, Nami spotted something odd.

Luffy was lying down on the deck with his hands tucked under his head. The boy's eyes were watching the sky and a wide smile was plastered on his face. But, that wasn't what Nami paid attention to.

Instead, she paid heed to how her captain wasn't in his usual spot on Sunny's head.

Just like herself, Luffy also likes to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere. The rubber boy would usually sit on Sunny's head and gaze at the sea with a grin on his face (and sometimes accidentally falls asleep and slips off the figurehead but Nami never worries because a mop of green hair was always one step behind). So, to find him lying on the deck was a bit unusual.

To ease the thoughts that were bugging her mind, Nami stepped onto the deck and slowly approached her silent captain. "What are you doing, Luffy?"

Luffy's eyes transferred from the sky to his navigator and the boy flashed her a grin. "Cloud-watching!"

Nami tilted her head slightly and she gave Luffy a questioning look. "Cloud-watching?"

Luffy nodded. "Yup!"

Nami's mind quickly made up theories to why her captain would do such a thing. "...you're bored, aren't you?" Nami ended up guessing. That seemed like the most logical answer she could think of to why Luffy was cloud-watching, although Luffy and logic didn't mix very well.

"Hmm, not really," Luffy said. "Cloud-watching's actually pretty fun!"

"That's not what I asked." Nami sighed before she went back to the topic at hand. "But, it's unusual for you to be here on the deck."

"Really?" Luffy asked.

Nami gave him a nod. "Yeah, you usually sit on Sunny's head."

Luffy was silent for a moment before he shrugged. "Well, I can't feel the wind that good there."

Nami blinked. "The wind?"

"Yeah," Luffy grinned.

Nami pushed her sunglasses up to her forehead as she asked, "Why would you need to feel the wind? What's with the sudden interest?"

"It's not sudden." Luffy gave her a pout and the boy sat up, his straw hat dangling on the string attached around his neck. "I've been doing this for two years now."

"Doing what?" Nami questioned.

"Calculating winds!" Luffy said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

It took a few minutes for those words to finally click inside Nami's mind. The young girl stared at her captain like he just grew another head. "...you mean, you learned navigation!?"

Luffy shook his head. "Nope, just the wind."

"Studying the wind  _is_  navigation, you idiot!" Nami yelled in front of Luffy's face, giving the boy a hard punch on the head.

"O-Ow!" Luffy cried out and gently touched the growing bump on his head.

Nami exhaled a puff of air before she asked, "Why would you do that anyway?"

The navigator didn't show it, but she was concerned. Luffy said that he's been doing this for two years, and she wanted to know why. He already had the world's best navigator (like she does say so herself), why would he even  _want_  to learn nav-

A sudden thought appeared in her head and Nami barely managed to withhold a gasp.

Two years ago, Nami wasn't there. Luffy learned it because  _she wasn't there_.

A possibility. A guess that could or could not be true. Nami tried to reason with herself that  _it was impossible_  and  _Luffy wouldn't do that, he's too much of an idiot_. But the more she thought about it, the more convinced she became. And before she knew it, dread started to gather inside of Nami's body and the navigator found herself silently praying to every God she knew that Luffy didn't do it because of that.

_Oh please, not because of that._

Oblivious to the inner chaos inside of Nami's head, Luffy rubbed the big bump on his head and said, "Rayleigh told me it was to predict the weather or some sort, so I wouldn't be surprised when it suddenly rains."

Nami blinked and her train of thought instantly halted. "T-That's the reason..?"

"Yeah," Luffy said, giving her a  _what-did-you-expect_  look.

Nami stared at him incredulously for a minute before she shakily let out a sigh (that is  _not_  in utter relief) and ran her fingers through her ginger hair. "Should've known," Nami muttered, mostly to herself.

Luffy stared at his navigator with a puzzled look. "Why do you ask, Nami?"

Nami shook her head and pulled her hand back. "No reason." Then, the female crouched down to Luffy's eye level and seriously said, "In any case, you can stop now."

"Huh?" Luffy tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"Predicting the weather is not your strong suit. It's mine." Nami declared as she pointed a finger to herself. "Don't even try, you'll probably suck at it."

"Wha-Hey! That's rude!" Luffy cried, a childish and offended pout evident on his face.

Nami chuckled and shrugged in response. "Maybe, but it's the truth."

Then, she spotted the straw hat that wasn't on Luffy's head. Nami absent-mindedly reached out and grabbed the hat, slowly pulling it away from its owner. Luffy stared at her in confusion but otherwise didn't interfere. He knew that she'd never ruin it on purpose.

Nami stared at the straw hat with mixed feelings. She still remembered the day when Luffy placed this hat on her head for the first time. She remembered how she recalled him calling the hat his precious treasure, and yet he was willingly giving it to her. The amount of trust he had with a girl he  _just_  met a few weeks ago to keep his treasure safe still astonished Nami up to this day.

This straw hat was important, just like the boy wearing it. Both were something Nami loved and would continue to cherish.

But, she needed to clear some things first.

"Listen, Luffy," Nami said as she sat down beside her captain, putting the straw hat on her lap. Luffy's head perked up and he silently waited for Nami to continue.

"Let me handle the wind-calculating this time," Nami stated. The two last words tasted bitter in Nami's mouth.

"Like I said, you're a horrible navigator." The girl added as she averted her gaze to the sky above them. "If you take care of the navigation, you'd probably crash Sunny on an isolated island with close to no food."

Luffy's eye twitched and he scowled at her. Those words (albeit true) still offended the young captain. "I'm not that bad," Luffy mumbled.

"Oh, you are." Nami's lips curled into a soft smile. "That's why I'm here."

Luffy raised his eyebrows at the abrupt statement. "Huh?"

Nami sighed. Leave it to Luffy to miss the most obvious of things.

"You recruited me as your navigator, remember?" Nami's tone had a touch of annoyance as her brown eyes gazed upon Luffy's black ones. "Guiding their captain to the right path and making sure that he reaches it safely. That's what navigators do."

Nami grabbed the straw hat on her lap and gently put it back onto Luffy's raven hair. The ginger-haired girl didn't pull her arm back immediately, as her hand lingered on the hat for a while. Luffy was surprised that the pressure holding his hat down didn't go yet, and the boy looked up in curiosity.

Nami had a small scowl on her face, meaning that she was probably annoyed or upset. But when Luffy saw her eyes, he knew that it was much more than that.

"...Don't get the roles mixed up, Luffy." Nami said, her soft eyes giving away the irritation in her tone. Luffy blinked as his mind began to take in what that statement meant.

Nami lowered her head down to Luffy's eye level again, determined to make sure her captain ( _savior_ ) understand what she's trying to get across. "Navigating is  _my_  job. Being the captain is  _yours_."

Luffy could only gaze at her silently as he witnessed many emotions flash in her brown eyes. Nami pursed her lips slightly as words that she wanted to say formed in her mind.

_You don't need to do anything else. You don't need to **be**  anything else. Just give us that bright grin of yours every day and that will do just fine. Just be Luffy, our lovable Monkey D. Luffy._

But, none of these words came from her mouth. Instead, Nami settled for a short and simple, "You got that?"

Luffy stared at her with a tiny hint of wonder in his eyes. The captain stayed unnaturally silent, and for a brief second, Nami thought she had done something wrong.

But her worries vanished completely when Luffy finally let out a laugh (that was, to Nami, like a breath of fresh air) and he grinned at his navigator. "Yeah. Thanks, Nami!"

Nami's scowl turned to a satisfied smile and she nodded. "Good." Then, her hand slowly let go of Luffy's straw hat and the navigator stood back up. "Now, go. Calm weather like this doesn't last long in the New World."

Luffy nodded, his grin still in place. "Alright!" Then, he stretched his arms and rocketed to Sunny's head as quick as a person could blink. Nami sighed at her captain's antics and she walked away to do what she had intended to do in the first place.

Most people would think that the small talk they had wasn't enough to get the point across Luffy's stubborn head and they'd persuade Nami to go check on him and make sure he does.

But, Nami didn't need to worry if he didn't get the message. Because one glance at her captain's eyes and Nami knew that he understood.

Besides, the navigator was downright  _relieved_  that her theory (of her captain doing what  _she_  was supposed to do but she couldn't because  _she wasn't there_ ) wasn't true.

Really, what more could she ask for?


End file.
